so ive been using Log4OM for about a year now for general logging and i really like it, the interface makes sense to me and the QSL tracking stuff is pretty solid. but every time a contest rolls around everyone seems to act like N1MM is the only option and i kind of just... go along with it and fire up N1MM even though i dont really know it that well.

my question is whether people actually maintain two separate logging setups or if theres a smarter way to handle this. like right now i have WSJT-X feeding into Log4OM via UDP for FT8 and that works fine day to day, but when i do something like the ARRL DX contest i switch over to N1MM and then i have to manually import the ADIF afterward and sometimes the duplicate checking gets weird.

is that just the way it is or am i missing something obvious. feels like theres probably a cleaner workflow that i havent figured out yet

yeah that's pretty much how most people run it honestly. N1MM is just so purpose-built for contesting that trying to force Log4OM into that role doesnt really make sense, the exchange logging and rate tracking and all that just isnt the same. i've tried doing contests in other software and you end up fighting the tool instead of working the pile.

the ADIF import thing after the fact is annoying but its not that bad once you set up a filter to check for dupes before you merge. what i do is export from N1MM right after the contest ends, open it in a text editor real quick and check the header info is clean, then import into Log4OM with the duplicate detection set to strict. havent had a serious problem with it in a while. the only time it got weird for me was when i had some FT8 QSOs in Log4OM that also showed up in the contest log because i was running both modes during the same event, that confused things for a bit.

the WSJT-X to Log4OM UDP thing works well but just make sure your port settings arent conflicting if you ever try to run N1MM at the same time, i did that once by accident during a VHF contest and had QSOs going to both logs and neither was complete. took me a while to figure out why my dupe checking felt off mid-contest. just something to watch out for if you ever try to run FT8 alongside SSB or CW in a mixed-mode event.